After learning about Minstrelsy at the beginning of our class, I searched the internet for more information on the character and why he existed. The textbook stated the man who started the Jim Crow persona was Thomas Dartmouth Rice. He performed the song Jim Crow in blackface while imitating a dance step called the cakewalk. Rice’s background in creating this character began when he studied slaves and their dancing. Minstrel shows became popular after Rice’s performance until his death in 1860. The reason Rice fabricated Jim Crow was for the entertainment of High-class white people but soon turned in to a set of laws and practices that tormented African Americans from the 1890s to the late 1960s. I find it tiring when certain people accuse others of committing blackface when they do not know anything about the history or the reason behind it. For example, there are incidents where using black charcoal face masks is considered blackface now. Personally, I think that is really stupid the main focus of face masks to help your skin. Of course, the people accusing do not have any background knowledge on what really is blackface and not. People just assume if you wear have something darker than brown on your face, you are doing blackface. I think people need to educate themselves so they can tell the difference between what can be considered blackface and what is not. Hopefully, the misuse of the racial issue will be restored and people can stop doing blackface completely.
Good points! Rice didn’t invent or perform the cakewalk, though — that was a later development of minstrelsy; it became popular when African Americans took over minstrel shows after the Civil War. I think the problem with the face masks, or with that Gucci sweater, is that even if it’s an accident, blackface images are kind of a third wire. It’s like the swastika — maybe someone’s wearing it because it’s an ancient Hindu symbol, but it’s difficult to avoid the Nazi associations.